Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Nursing Home Industry Seeks Protection From Lawsuits As Death Toll Soars During Crisis

Meanwhile, patient advocates say legal liability is the last safety net to keep facilities accountable. "If you take the power of suing away from the families, then anything goes,” said Stella Kazantzas, whose husband is among the more than 20,000 patients who have died in nursing homes since the outbreak. In other news on senior facilities: advocates push for a stronger federal response; CMS will form a commission on safety; an elderly social worker dies; veterans' homes and those in home care struggle; and overall staffing levels drop.

The Associated Press:
Faced With 20,000 Dead, Care Homes Seek Shield From Lawsuits
Faced with 20,000 coronavirus deaths and counting, the nation’s nursing homes are pushing back against a potential flood of lawsuits with a sweeping lobbying effort to get states to grant them emergency protection from claims of inadequate care. At least 15 states have enacted laws or governors’ orders that explicitly or apparently provide nursing homes and long-term care facilities some protection from lawsuits arising from the crisis. And in the case of New York, which leads the nation in deaths in such facilities, a lobbying group wrote the first draft of a measure that apparently makes it the only state with specific protection from both civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution. (Condon, Mustian and Peltz, 5/4)

ABC News:
Advocates Demand Stronger Federal Action As Nursing Homes Engulfed By Pandemic
As authorities revealed the latest mass casualty event to strike an American nursing home amid the pandemic, advocates for the elderly decried an inadequate federal response to the crisis. Nursing homes have been especially devastated by COVID-19. A nationwide review by ABC News found more than 10,000 long-term care residents have died of the virus in just the 28 states that responded to a request for figures. In some states, deaths in nursing homes account for as many as half of all coronavirus-related fatalities. On Friday, officials acknowledged that the novel coronavirus had claimed the lives of 98 residents at a single New York City nursing home, a loss that Mayor Bill de Blasio called “absolutely horrifying.” (Mosk, Pecorin, Romero and Freger, 5/2)

Modern Healthcare:
Independent Commission To Review Nursing Homes' COVID-19 Response
CMS will form an independent commission to assess how nursing homes have responded to the pandemic, upping the scrutiny on the facilities that have become COVID-19 hot spots. The commission will primarily focus on nursing home residents' safety, strengthening regulations to stem the spread of COVID-19 and enhancing federal and state enforcement strategies to improve compliance with infection-control policies, the agency announced late Thursday. It also aims to better coordinate efforts between federal, state and local authorities as well as identify best practices that may be incorporated into a larger regulatory framework, CMS said. (Kacik, 5/1)

Boston Globe:
Nursing Home Social Worker Dies Of Coronavirus After Working 10 Days Straight
A social worker at a Chelmsford nursing home who died from the coronavirus last week is being remembered by family members for her unwavering devotion to her patients and their families — even volunteering to work 10 days straight while the disease spread across the state. Catherine Drouin, 69, of Methuen, who worked for more than two decades as a social worker at the Palm Center nursing home, died April 27 at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, family members said Sunday. (Hillard, 5/3)

The Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Batters Veterans Homes In New Jersey And New York
Veterans homes in New Jersey and New York are struggling to contain growing coronavirus outbreaks as the disease continues to pummel facilities for older residents across the nation. At New Jersey’s state-run Paramus Veterans Memorial Home, 189 residents have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and 62 people have died, according to the state. In New York, 56 people have died from Covid-19 at the Long Island State Veterans Home, and 67 more residents are infected. (De Avila, 5/2)

Politico:
Disabled, Elderly Going Without Home Care Amid Shortage Of Protective Gear And Tests
Millions of high-needs home care patients and their low-wage caregivers face enormous risks as the coronavirus crisis reveals deep gaps in government oversight and resources for this often-overlooked branch of the health system. While institutions like hospitals and nursing homes are still struggling to get enough testing and personal protective equipment, the problem is far worse for home care, which is spread out and behind closed doors. (Ollstein and Kenen, 5/3)

Kaiser Health News:
COVID-Plagued California Nursing Homes Often Had Problems In Past
When Jorge Newbery finally got through to his 95-year-old mother, Jennifer, on a video call April 18, she could barely talk or move and her eyes couldn’t focus. It was the first time he had seen her since California nursing homes shut their doors to visitors a month earlier. Immediately after the video chat, Newbery called the front desk in a panic. “I said, ‘You gotta get her out, you gotta call 911,’” he recalled. “She’s looking like she’s about to die.” (Rau and Almendrala, 5/4)

Kaiser Health News:
As COVID-19 Lurks, Families Are Locked Out Of Nursing Homes. Is It Safe Inside?
Families are beset by fear and anxiety as COVID-19 makes inroads at nursing homes across the country, threatening the lives of vulnerable older adults. Alarmingly more than 10,000 residents and staff at long-term care facilities have died from COVID infections, according to an April 23 analysis of state data by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But often facilities won’t disclose how many residents and employees are infected with the coronavirus that causes the disease, citing privacy considerations. (Graham, 5/4)

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